Wisconsin Roundup: Cloud, Solar, Speed Dating, & More

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Here are a few recent notable news items in Wisconsin’s tech and innovation community:

—Helios Solar Works, a Milwaukee solar panel startup that filed for receivership and shut down last year, will reopen under its new Chinese parent company, Chinaland Solar Energy—but not in Wisconsin. Instead, the company will relocate to North Carolina, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

—Madison-based NeuWave Medical, the maker of minimally-invasive surgical devices that use microwave energy, named Dan Sullivan its president and CEO. Sullivan succeeds Laura King, a former GE Healthcare exec who left NeuWave in December after six years at the helm. Sullivan has co-founded or led several med tech companies that achieved commercial success and an exit for their investors, including SuperDimension, which was bought by Covidien for $300 million in 2012; Atritech, which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2011, and Vascular Science, which St. Jude Medical bought in 1999.

—I recently reported that Milwaukee-based software company CorvisaCloud received a $30 million capital infusion from its parent company, Novation Companies, which would allow it to hire more than 60 employees in the coming year. Turns out CorvisaCloud has now decided to add about 100 jobs companywide, most of them in Milwaukee. It’s also nearly doubling the size of its Milwaukee office to about 35,000 square feet, according to a spokeswoman.

—Wisconsin startup accelerator Gener8tor is partnering with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Oshkosh, WI-based Angels on the Water to hold a second event that gives startups a chance to pitch to big companies. The first “OnRamp” event was held in December in Milwaukee, but the next one will take place at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, according to a Gener8tor press release. Participating corporations this time around include Harley-Davidson, Assurant Health, American Family Insurance, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Each corporation has promised to purchase from, invest in, or mentor at least one of the startups, Gener8tor said. Read more about Wisconsin’s growing fascination with this type of “speed dating” for businesses in my recent Xconomy feature.